Menu Plan Monday – December 22, 2008

It is time for menu planning! Head over to Laura’s for Menu Plan Monday to see her Christmas menu and what other’s will have on their plates this week. For the Gluten Free Menu Swap, I am hosting this week (WOO!) and have chosen cranberries as the theme ingredient in honor of the season. I am really excited to see how others celebrate the season and what are some of the traditional foods your family enjoys. Our family on my mother’s side is Swedish, so we have lefse, Swedish rye bread, ride pudding, potato pudding (it’s a bit of a carb-fest!), lingonberries and cranberry relish. I have added a BIG salad to the mix and there is always a variety of cookies. We always have this meal Christmas Eve and open the family presents after the dishes are washed. My grandparents always insisted on that. You would not believe how fast dishes are washed and put away on Christmas Eve! This year due to work schedules (I married a nurse and people still need care on holidays, ya know) we are having our Christmas Eve dinner for lunch on Christmas and just having something simple in the crock pot for Christmas Eve dinner.

The kids are off from school and will be celebrating and we are enjoying family this week. Lots of extra kid snuggling hasn’t got my menu up very quickly, but I sure feel cozy! I hope everyone has a blessed holiday season and travels safely this week. My kids have a nice long vacation this year and we are in full gear preparing for Christmas. I love it!

Wednesday: Christmas Eve/ Christmas Eve church service (due to some scheduling issues, our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is being switched to Christmas Day at noon. We are still opening family presents on Christmas Eve after my dad and husband get home from work, though!)

Our traditional Christmas Eve meal served today: Potato Pudding (sounds weird, but tasty, some topped with fresh side pork which is traditional and some with portobello mushrooms, which is how I added to the tradition several years ago), cranberry relish, rice pudding (my addition to the tradition is using chai spices and almond milk), lingonberries, salad (with oranges, dried cranberries and orange poppy seed dressing), lefse and Swedish rye bread.

Friday:

Brunch for dinner/what I usually make for Christmas morning: Waffles (served with tofu sour cream and lingonberries, maple syrup or cinnamon apples), sausage, fruit

Other participants in the Gluten Free Menu Swap:

Ginger at Fresh Ginger is using the theme ingredient for a cranberry vodka cocktail and in cranberry sauce for her Christmas dinner. Vietnamese Chicken Pho, shrimp cocktails and latkes are all on the menu for Ginger this week. She made some amazing sounding brittles this weekend and sounds like she will be eating and celebrating well with family and friends.

Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness will be traveling this week, and we hope they travel safely, without a speeding ticket or accident this year. Roasted cauliflower , sourel soup, and salmon are on her menu along with some tasty chocolate covered fruits to sweeten up their celebrations. She will hopefully be making a cranberry relish with the theme ingredient (that is what we make for our family’s Christmas Eve dinner, too.)

Sea at the Book of Yumwill be celebrating with a cranberry cake and Chahan. She also has potato, sweet potato and zucchini latkes on the menu, which I will have to try! Sounds really good! This week Sea has shared a recipe for a Fresh Herb Yogurt Sauce.

Kimberly of Gluten Free is Life is having an easy meal week (pulled pork sandwiches are on both our menus) in order to concentrate more on family time. Sounds great to me! Cranberry cornbread, a GF chocolate roll, honey baked ham (for Christmas Eve), salmon and a spaghetti dinner (using quinoa pasta) will be served this week.

M-Elle of Cooking and UNcooking is finishing up her holiday baking and taking a well deserved down time to spend with family and friends. I love the idea of the Apple Cranberry Chutney in gift baskets, something I want to experiment with canning up. Yum! Thanks for the recipe link! On Christmas Eve she will be having homemade sushi rolls and tomorrow a chickpea curry. She even has plan for an alternative menu in case she is snow bound for Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! Thank you for joining in on the Gluten Free Menu Swap this week!